Little Witch Academia: Chamber of Time hits PC in May

It does seem that Bandai-Namco are committed to bringing just about everything they publish to our once anime-deprived platform. The popular Little Witch Academia series (basically Harry Potter, but aimed more at girls, and on Netflix) is soon to receive its first game adaptation - a seeming inevitability, although I doubt I could have predicted its genre.

Little Witch Academia: Chamber of Time looks to blend lightweight school-life RPG mechanics with a side-scrolling brawler combat engine in the vein of Dragon's Crown, albeit with a heavier focus on ranged attacks, and it's due to hit PC this May.

While obviously not quite as gorgeous as this week's Ni No Kuni 2, Chamber of Time looks like it's pretty much got the art style of the anime series nailed down, from the core character art to some of the squashy/stretchy effects used during especially dynamic scenes. The full Japanese voice cast from the anime are present and correct, too.

None of that is any surprise, though. What does catch me off guard is the fact that they're pairing such a relatively light-and-fluffy anime property to such a classically hardcore (and male-dominated, admittedly) genre. Granted, it's not quite as gritty as Streets Of Rage with its knife-fighting and occasional blood spurts, but it does teach an important magical lesson: Sometimes you just need to slap the stupid out of a goblin.

If nothing else, I hope Chamber of Time introduces a generation of young girls (and some boys) to the magical world of side-scrolling brawlers. The true meaning of friendship is saving that delicious looking chicken (that you probably found inside a rusty barrel) for your less combo-savvy buddy, after all. As a lifelong fan of the genre, I'm keeping an eye on this one. We'll hopefully have some hands-on impressions ready in time for launch day on May 15th.